Writer's Block: Book worms unite!

[author_by_night]

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Quick note: The "worst" section has minor spoilers for the first Twilight book and a major spoiler for Son of a Witch, the sequel to Wicked.

Best

Clan of the Cave Bear: Clan of the Cave Bear is a book set in Ice Age Europe, about an orphaned girl found and raised by a clan of Neanderthals. It was written in the late 70s and published in about 1981, so the prehistoric research is very dated, but it's such a great look at what Neanderthals might have been like. It's the first book in the Earth's Children series, but it stands on its own even better. (The second book in the series, The Valley of Horses, is terrific. The rest... could be better.) My only criticism is that Ayla is the Eve of Mary Sues, and it starts in this book.

The Lovely Bones: Susie Salmon is a fourteen year old girl who is raped and murdered on her way home from school. The story follows her experience in a unique version of Heaven and her family's struggle to cope with the loss of their eldest daughter/sister. It also follows a crush and one of her schoolmates. I loved the spirituality of the book, as well as the way Alice Sebold handled such a heavy subject.

Persepolis: Persepolis is a biographical graphic novel about a girl growing up in Iran during the revolution. I love this book because of the unique way it tells such a dark story, but also because you don't see much about Iran except what you hear on the news. It was nice to have a more personal perspective There is a sequel (Persepolis II), which is also very good.

Worst

Life in the Fat Lane: It's a teen book I read years and years ago, and is both unrealistic and insulting. I don't remember much about it, just that I was quite repulsed and even a little offended.

Twilight: Sorry to Twilight fans on my flist, but... I could not finish the first book. I didn't care about Bella. I didn't care about Edward. Heck, I didn't even care that much about Jacob. I just wanted to know more about Carlsile. And vampires that don't sparkle.

Son of a Witch: The sequel to Wicked. The entire book had me screaming: DO NOT WANT. (For an idea - the main character's caregiver has sex with him. While he's in a coma. And gets pregnant with their child. No, not kidding.)

Comments

[ginny-toxic.livejournal.com]

You'd probably like Girl in a Tangerine Scarf. It's about a muslim girl growing up in the middle of indiana and her life as she tries to work through her identity.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

You know, I think I'd heard of it but never bought it. I might check it out over break. :)

[(Anonymous)]

Someone who isn't in luurve with Twilight!

Shock and awe!

My only issue with TLB is that sometimes it seemed like it was trying too hard. It was a good book, but sometimes I'd read something and just go...well, that wasn't necessary.

[alchemistc.livejournal.com]

That was me^

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Someone who isn't in luurve with Twilight!

Nope! I tried to love it, I did. And I mean, I think Twilight got a lot of flack after being compared to things it wasn't - it's not Harry Potter or Buffy, and I don't think it's fair for people to want it to be either of those things. That said, it's still not a well written book... in my opinion at least.

[aggiebell90]

I liked Clan of the Cave Bear and Valley of the Horses, but, yeah, she lost me in the next one (is that The Mammoth Hunters? I can't remember). And LOL about Ayla being the Eve of Mary Sues.

The Lovely Bones killed me. Just absolutely made me a complete and total emotional wreck. I had to stop reading and go and hug Maggie more times than I could count. Excellent, excellent book, but not one I think I could ever read again--too emotionally draining for me. But I'm the person who refuses to see Schindler's List and probably wouldn't be able to step foot into the Holocaust museum, because I don't think I could handle either of them emotionally. (Yes, I'm a chicken, but the thought that people can do things like that to some other person makes me physically ill.)

Haven't read Twilight. Tried, but...yeah. I could never generate sympathy for the main characters (and pretty much spent the time I was reading wanting to reach through the pages and strangle/slap them).

[vifetoile.livejournal.com]

Clan of the Cave Bear - I must have read when I was eleven or twelve. My mom told me that the totem animals that the people have are something like daemons. I should probably reread it - I remember liking it but being frustrated to no end with the society and how it seemed geared especially towards making Ayla miserable. And when I heard there were no sequels dealing with her son I was uninterested.

My mom started to read The Lovely Bones when I was even younger than that... and she couldn't finish it. Kind of like how I couldn't finish Wicked, in all likelihood. However, Twilight was a special case of could-not-finish. A few pages of wallowing through the prose left me unwilling to try more.

[kakeochi-umai.livejournal.com]

Hee, last night my sister had two of her friends around for her birthday and after dinner they went to the new Twilight movie with our parents. One of them asked if I was coming and my mum said no because I don't like Twilight and you should have seen it. "WHY DON'T YOU LIKE TWILIGHT?!?!?!" "I just can't get into it." *scandalised expressions* XD

I do like to laugh at om nom rough sex nom, as one awesome person put it, though, and the concept of that birth. And the concept of falling in love with a baby. I was annoying my friend greatly the other day by singing the Pedobear song about that. :P

[kakeochi-umai.livejournal.com]

Also, The Lovely Bones was craaaaaaaaaaaaaazy popular when I first started at Paper Plus. I could never really get into it, though. I liked the concept, but something about the writing I just couldn't get into.

[r-a-black.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed The Lovely Bones when I read it, but I remember feeling a little annoyed at the dialogue. Like it was awkward at times or something, though that's not really much to complain over. I really look forward to seeing the movie, some of the "Heaven" scenes look absolutely gorgeous.

[ronluvshermione.livejournal.com]

Ah, a fellow Twilight non-lover. Somebody told me I should see the movie, so I did. J and I both found it extremely boring. Edward seemed to me like a creepy stalker and Bella, a bit of an airhead. I thought that maybe the book would be better, but then I read petitecrivain's review, which said that it was badly written, so I decided not to bother reading it.

[eimajunknown.livejournal.com]

i've not read clan of the cave bear. i have it checked out from the library since a friend of mine recommended it to me, but i haven't read it yet. i've heard from someone else (a completely random person at the library) that it was excellent, though. i didn't really read your post though, because i don't want spoilers - the only book on either of your lists i've read is twilight, lol.